1432 At Last, Some Silence.
ROAR ROAAR!!..
With two thunderous majestic roars, the crimson-flaming Lion landed in the center of the arena, kicking off a cloud of dust around it.
"Wait for me at the side," Felix ordered the beast and Sekiro before jumping into the arena alone.
The crimson lion took off into the air and landed in an empty area in the stands, sitting with its legs folded and two heads leaning against each other.
They went to sleep immediately, not caring in the slightest about all the eyes affixed on them.
'It's even more majestic upfront...'
'I doubt I can get one even if I worked my entire life...'
'This really makes no sense.'
This was the effect of possessing a divine beast in the heavenly plane. It was a symbol of status, power, and reputation.
Yet, it was owned by a mere red-graded spirit, which shouldn't be possible under any circumstances!
"Traveler, did you steal this beast from someone?" Rhael Stormchaser made a joke, but his tone couldn't be more serious.
It was clear that he was digging into Felix's reason for owning such a beast and everyone perked up their ears in interest to know the answer.
"If anyone here to chitchat, leave the colosseum immediately," Felix uttered with a nonchalant tone. "If you came to fight, stay quiet and wait until midnight."
"Aren't you a bit too cocky?" Nadira Flameheart gave him a displeased look.
Felix didn't even bother to glance in her direction.
He looked at Goliath and Earthshaker, then nodded his head and emptied the arena, a clear sign of giving them permission to go at it.
While this was what those two wanted, it still didn't feel right to have a mere red-graded spirit order them around like this.
"Suddenly, I am no longer in the mood to fight."
The Earthshaker scratched the back of his head with an irritated expression and tried to leave the arena.
"As much as I don't like this situation, you ain't going anywhere." Goliath eyed him coldly. "I challenge you to a duel...It's your move now."
Jorvik, The Earthshaker turned around, his face oozing with displeasure and anger. "Are you sure about this?"
Although the great filter stage wouldn't start until tomorrow and Jorvik wasn't forced to accept the challenge, he couldn't turn back as it would make him seem like a coward.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Make a move or f*ck off to whatever hole you crawled from." Goliath gestured with his molten hand for him to start the fight.
Just as Jorvik, The Earthshaker was about to get into his battle stance, Mr. Sogrus got in the way again.
"Wait, wait, wait! You can't waste a good fight like this without having a live audience to spice things up, right? Think about your sponsors, they won't be pleased if one of you got eliminated and hasn't brought any attention to their companies."
"That's true."
Goliath lowered his arms, knowing that it was truly not the best time to fight.
"Sogrus, make a public announcement that I will be fighting this bag of rocks at midnight." He requested with a stern tone.
"Of course, of course." Mr. Sogrus agreed to it immediately.
"Aren't you lucky? Delaying your damnation by a few hours." Nadira Flameheart snickered as she eyed Felix.
Felix ignored her yet again and gazed at everyone who seemed to be planning to leave the Colosseum.
"Where do you think you are going? I didn't come all the way here just to reschedule." Felix uttered indifferently, "I have more important stuff to handle than fool around with you."
Before anyone could react to his statements, Felix announced. "I challenge everyone here but Goliath and Ravager to group combat at midnight."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The moment the announcement rang in everyone's ears, their bodies froze in their places...Slowly but surely, they all turned to stare at Felix with widened eyes like they were looking at a madman.
Even Ravager, Goliath, and Mr. Sogrus shared the same reaction.
"Sigh, I had a feeling he will do something as crazy as this." Sekiro facepalmed, feeling like an idiot for thinking otherwise.
Meanwhile, Felix was seen returning to the arena while rolling up his sleeves, his expression as indifferent as always like he hadn't just challenged thirty of the strongest fighters in ten cities!
"You! Have you lost your damn mind!!" In the end, Goliath was the first to break into a furious tirade.
He pointed his shaky finger at Felix's back and yelled, "How can you do something so retarded!! You will get absolutely thrashed and make the situation even worse for us!"
"HAHAHAA!! He really is a crazy f*cker!" Ironforge caught his stomach as he burst into noisy laughter after finally processing this insane situation.
"Haha! Did he think he owns the heavenly plane after defeating Ravager?! This sh*t is too hilarious." Nadira Flameheart wiped her tears from laughing so hard, not taking Felix seriously even for a moment.
"As expected, he is an untrusted variable." Elara Moonshade shook her head in disappointment.
"This, this is a first...this is the first time I meet someone so eager to get disposed of from the tournament. Did he lose a bet or something?" Rhael Stormchaser was left more confused albeit the situation was quite hilarious.
If Felix had challenged one of them to a duel, they would be nothing more than interested. But, to challenge everyone to a group battle?
It was literally a suicidal decision since it meant that Felix would have to defeat all thirty of them simultaneously if they accepted the challenge!
While it was called a group battle, it was more or less a one for all battle royal since there weren't any fighting rules in the great filter stage.
Everyone was allowed to hit and eliminate each other...But in this scenario?
"Guys, we can't refuse such a freebie challenge, but we also can't indulge in this fight without a proper viewership." Thorn Briarwood suggested with a rough voice, "How about we send one of us to eliminate him quickly and then make proper separate battles between us?"
"My exact thoughts."
"Likewise."
"This f*cker has no sponsor, so he doesn't care about such things. Let's get rid of him quickly and turn this city into our turf."
No one declined the suggestion.
Without an ounce of hesitation, the fighters jumped into the arena one by one until Felix was encircled by thirty strong fighters from all directions.
"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!" Goliath gritted his teeth in anger at his inability to do anything.
He wanted to join the group combat, but he understood that he would receive the same treatment as Felix.
"What are you up to?"
Meanwhile, Ravager had a different reaction from everyone else.
As the one who fought him to the very end, he understood that Felix would never do something without careful preparation.
In other words, if he decided to take on this many at once, he had something that would enable him to win...But, no matter how hard Ravager thought about it, he couldn't find anything.
'F*cking bastard! Always making my job harder than it is!'
Mr. Sogrus cursed with sweat covering his forehead as he brought out his crystal device and started contacting his connections to swiftly promote the upcoming battle and sell the tickets for the show.
When the news got out, no one dared to skip such a showdown, especially when they heard it would be a group battle!
...
At Midnight sharp...The battle was finally streamed live to millions of waiting spirits in the chat rooms.
The entire Colosseum was packed to the brim with spectators and even the VIP lounges were sold out in less than a few seconds from the announcement.
Having no intentions to wait until a greater number of viewers join the stream, Felix stood up and dusted his ass...Then, he inquired as he eyed everyone, "Shall we begin?"
"Don't be too hasty, we have yet to decide who will take care of you." Nadira Flameheart grinned coldly.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"It's not like you had three hours to do it." Felix replied with an indifferent tone.
The fighters ignored his remark and began discussing who would take him down after the stream was finally live.
It was clear that everyone wanted to show the viewers across the entire heavenly plane that they had no interest in ganging up on Felix.
"Leave him to me, I will make sure to erase his cocky attitude instantly." Thorn Briarwood requested as he turned his hands into giant poisonous wooden fists.
"You wish, he is still the capital's champion and whoever got rid of him will get immense publicity." Jorvik, The Earthshaker scoffed.
"So, how do you guys want to decide this?" Rhael Stormchaser inquired.
"Let's do it through a digital raffle." Elara Moonshade said softly, "Whoever is interested in fighting him join the raffle and the winner will fight him."
"Fine by me."
"Alright."
"I'm in."
One by one, the fighters all agreed to use a raffle system, not caring that their discussion was being held right in front of their opponent.
"Kikikiki, look how they are disrespecting your master nationally." Miss Sanae chuckled as she watched the stream with Karra and little Timmy.
"Bunch of mean bastards. My master will teach them a lesson." Karra showed an angry expression, which made her look cuter than dangerous.
"Oho? Aren't you too confident in him?" Miss Sanae raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Did he show you something?"
Karra nodded her head with a look of reverence and said, "My master is going to eliminate them all at once."
"All at once? Kikiki, I know he became extremely strong with his spiritual treasures investment, but it will still take him a while to elimi...Huh?"
Abruptly, the rest of the sentence was stuck in Miss Sanae's throat after her widened pupils reflected one of the most unbelievable sights she had ever seen.
Felix, raised his hands leisurely, uncaring about the ongoing disrespectful discussion about him.
Then, with a single, resounding clap, a palpable wave of energy emanated from Felix, rolling outwards.
The fighters didn't even have time to react. It was as if the very sound had a weight, a force that pushed against them, sapping their energy.
One by one, each fighter's knees buckled, and their strength drained...Weapons dropped, and armored bodies thudded onto the ground, creating a surreal rhythm of defeat.
All of them, regardless if it was a champion, a goddess, or a third runner...All of them ended up on the floor with their eyes showing nothing but white.
"At last, some silence."
In the aftermath, Felix stood alone amidst a circle of unconscious adversaries, the silent master of the arena.
Ravager, Goliath, and the live audience stared in stunned silence, grappling with the unprecedented display of power they'd just witnessed.
Only one thought was swimming across their minds, 'It's done?'